Hi all
Thought I'd share my landing experience here in case it helps anyone with their queries. I was a temporary resident in Melbourne, Australia and traveled from there to Montreal with Qatar Airways transiting via Doha roughly 10 days ago. Had a separate booking with Air Canada for Montreal to Vancouver with three hours layover in Montreal. Had no issues getting on board in Melbourne and Doha and landed in Montreal alright. The immigration/landing process at the Montreal airport was slower than I expected and for some reason, people landing with COPRs were called after everyone else. That gave me a massive scare as I had a connecting flight. I told the same to the admin officer there but he didn't allow me to jump ahead and asked me to wait. The immigration officer was quite alright and asked for the basic details without demanding any proofs and I spent roughly 5 min at the counter. After that, I collected my checked-in bags (two of the last ones on the belt) and ran to the Air Canada check-in counter. With Air Canada, you can opt for the lowest fare when you book and pay for the baggage on the airport at a decent rate ($90 CAD for two bags 23kg - It's the same if you book when doing a web check-in). Had no issues at Vancouver airport as I collected my bags and walked straight out without even needing to interact with anyone as I was arriving on a domestic flight. Free wifi at all three airports helped a lot. Booked an Uber to my Airbnb and am now waiting for the self-isolation to end so that I can get on with the process of opening a bank account, getting a SIN (needs address proof to apply online) and looking for new place to stay. Also, for those arriving in Vancouver (only), there's a decent Indian food meal delivery service (
https://www.yogiskitchen.ca/) that'll get you through the isolation period and if you wish to opt for it, let me know as I can get you a referral discount when you sign up.
No thermal screening for the Qatar Airways flights for me but there was a temperature check before boarding Air Canada flight. I had explored a scenario where if I miss my connecting flight, would I be able to stay overnight in Montreal? The answer that I got before my travel from an officer at Public Health Agency Canada was that yes I can, but I might have to book a room in a hotel (I don't think that would have been the case though as things were quite normal at the airport with travelers everywhere around the gates). Fortunately, that didn't occur but I wrote it here as it might assure people who might want to transit through Montreal but are afraid to do so.
Thanks to all the members for helping me through the process and all the best!
PS - I am looking for work in software development so if you know anyone who might be able to help, please send me a message. Cheers!